European Novels That Became Movies Quiz

Answer: Under the Volcano

The entire novel takes place in a single day, the Day of the Dead, November 2nd, in a dusty Mexican town where the English consul gets a visit from his estranged wife and his half brother. It is a book full of symbolism that incorporates Greek myth, the Kabbalah, Shakespeare, Blake, and the Mahabharata, and is considered one of the masterpieces of English Modernism.

Answer: Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow

As is the common feature of the Scandinavian noir genre of mystery fiction, the book seems to be entirely covered in ice and snow. Besides, Smilla, a native of Greenland, is an expert scientist on snow. Hoeg uses that to maximize the chilling effect he creates for his book which also addresses cultural and relationship issues.

Answer: Doctor Zhivago

Boris Pasternak's book was first published in Italy in 1957 because of his "pariah" status during Stalin's era. Through the story of Yuri Zhivago, his wife Tonya, his mistress Lara and her husband Pasha, Pasternak writes about the historical events taking place in Russia, starting with the Revolution of 1905 through to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and finally to World War II. Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958.

Answer: The Reader

Bernhard Schlink brilliantly uses the metaphor of illiteracy to expose the difficulties of the German post-war generations to comprehend the atrocities that took place and at the same time come to terms with the guilt that overwhelms their lives. The book was received with mixed feelings in spite of its undoubted literary merit. For many, Schlink "humanizes" Hanna, the woman who makes the prisoners read to her before they're sent off to the gas chambers.

Answer: The Name of the Rose

Umberto Eco uses his discipline, semiotics, as a tool in his writing. He expertly uses the story within a story, ambiguity, symbolism and the entanglement of fiction and history. 'The Name of the Rose' was his first historical novel and others followed in the same style, none as popular.

Answer: Night Train to Lisbon

Once again, a book within a book, as Raimund Gregorious discovers the diary of Amadeu de Prado which is a philosophical study of life, family and relationships of a brilliant, inquisitive mind in the stiffling context of Salazar's dictatorship in Portugal.

Answer: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

John Le Carre wrote "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" as the first book of his "Karla Trilogy" which included "The Honourable Schoolboy" and "Smiley's People." For the title of this book he used the English children's rhyme "Tinker Tailor" and assigned a codename from it to each agent of Circus - the highest level of British Intelligence. George Smiley was Beggar Man. An interesting fact is that John Le Carre uses spy jargon in his novels which for the most part he invented himself.

Answer: The Club Dumas

Arturo Perez-Reverte wrote this extremely complex novel where three plots are overlapping at the same time. One is a study on the working habits of writer Alexandre Dumas, the second is the world of antique books, authentications and forgeries and the third is an insight into the world of the occult and demonology. An excellent book, full of suspense and plot twists which, in my opinion, did not produce a deserving movie. Roman Polanski directed a rather good mystery which only vaguely alludes to the work of Arturo Perez-Reverte.

Answer: Seven Years in Tibet

During WWII, Heinrich Harrer and companion Peter Aufschnaiter escaped from a British detention camp in India and made their way to Lhasa, Tibet's capital. They spent several years there, becoming friends with the Dalai Lama, and Harrer wrote the book which describes Tibetan culture in great detail. Upon his return from Tibet, Harrer joined other expeditions to Alaska, the Andes, the Mountains of the Moon in Africa and Puncak Jaya, the highest peak in Oceania.

Answer: Captain Corelli's Mandolin

British writer Louis de Bernieres wrote this emotional, moving novel that has all the right ingredients for an international best-seller. War, bravery, love and betrayal, compassion and brutality, even an occasional miracle are all masterfully combined in this epic novel. Louis de Bernieres himself was not very pleased with the film but it became a huge success anyway.